The bill that will institute a death penalty for terrorists has passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum by a vote of 55 to nine on Wednesday afternoon,
The Jerusalem Post reports.
A majority of the opposition led by MK Yair Lapid was absent from the plenum vote in protest. Yisrael Beytenu, led by former finance minister Avigdor Liberman, supported the coalition's bill, proposed by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech.
The controversial bill was approved to move on to the plenum by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday despite attorney-general Gali Baharav-Miara's legal opinion, which stated there was a “legal impediment” to voting on the law before the national security cabinet meets to decide whether the penalty would create deterrence.
Arab Knesset faction Hadash-Ta'al issued a statement following the bill's preliminary passing, warning that the proposed law is "crossing a clear red line as part of Israel's slide into total fascism.
"The road from here to the elimination of those who defy the regime is short," Hadash-Ta'al argued. "Today it is the Palestinians, tomorrow it will be the protestors on the streets. Ben-Gvir will be easy on the trigger when it comes to determining who is a terrorist."
